Television entertainment systems include a plurality of media resources, for example, one or more tuners for receiving media content that is being broadcast, and one or more video ports for displaying media content. A basic television may have one tuner and one video port, allowing a user to view media being broadcast on only one channel at a time. A television entertainment system that includes one video port, two tuners, and a recording device (e.g., digital video recorder (DVR) hardware) provides more options. For example, a user may be able view media being broadcast on one channel (using the video port and one tuner), while recording media being broadcast on another channel, by allowing the DVR to control the second tuner.
Television entertainment systems with multiple media resources (e.g., tuners and video ports) and a plurality of devices capable of controlling the media resources (e.g., media recording devices, interactive game systems, etc.) are becoming commonplace, and can lead to undesired behavior. For example, if an entertainment system has one tuner and two recording devices, a user may program the first recorder to begin recording a two-hour movie on channel 2 at 3:00 pm. The user may program the second recorder to begin recording a half-hour sitcom on channel 4 at 3:30 pm. In this example the first recorder controls the tuner from 3:00 pm until 3:30 pm. At 3:30 pm, a decision must be made as to whether to allow the first recorder to continue recording the movie or stop the first recorder and allow the second recorder to record the half-hour sitcom.
Accordingly, there is a need to manage a growing number of media resources within an entertainment system, and thus manage the behavior of the system.